Oil and gas production from petroleum reservoirs results in changes in the subsurface formation stress field. These changes, when large enough, can result in serious damage or even complete loss of the bore hole through major deformation of the well casing. Thus, it is desirable to monitor subsurface stress fields as they may indirectly indicate the stress experienced by a well casing during oil production. While monitoring subsurface stress fields may generally be useful in determining the stress, or strain, experienced by a well casing, direct detection of casing strain is expected to give a better understanding of the subsurface forces that lead to deformation of the well casing and would allow for more precise monitoring of well casing integrity. This will lead to development of both preventative operating measures, including early abandonment in advance or dangerous well conditions and casing deformation, as well as better casing design and improved well completion programs. Consequently, oil companies have expressed an interest in direct monitoring of strain in the casing during the life of the well.
Direct monitoring of strain on a well casing, however, is often problematic because well casing strain can be caused by a number of different stresses or modes, including tensile or compressive stresses imparted along the axis of the casing, and shear stresses imparted through twisting or forces perpendicular to the casing axis. Casing strain can occur over long stretches of casing or can be very localized, and therefore may go undetected. The high magnitudes of strain that can cause deformation of a well casing, and/or the harsh environment down hole, can also cause apparatuses traditionally used to monitor strain to cease functioning.
Methods and apparatuses currently used to monitor well casing strain do not provide a solution to problems associated with direct strain monitoring. Many prior art techniques for monitoring well casing strain involve the use conventional strain gauges or sensors of the kind that are only capable of measuring strain in one orientation or mode at any given time. Conventional strain gauges are also prone to malfunctioning and damage when subjected to the high strain levels of interest and to the harsh environment of oil wells, and may not allow for direct monitoring of casing strain. Accordingly, conventional well casing strain monitoring methods and apparatuses can fail to detect critical points of high strain in a well casing that can lead to casing deformation, or may not detect strain at isolated critical locations on a casing. Precise monitoring of well casing strain is therefore difficult with the use of conventional methods and apparatuses.
It is known in the prior art that optical fiber sensors can be useful for measuring various stresses and temperatures present in the down hole environment. In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/612,775, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Seismically Surveying an Earth Formation in Relation to a Borehole,” filed Jul. 10, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference, a technique is disclosed for using optical fiber sensors to detect seismic events, and in one embodiment it is contemplated that such sensors can be coupled to the well casing to detect seismic emissions emanating from the surrounding earth strata. However, this configuration is not suited to measure casing strain per se, as it is configured and attached to firmly couple to the surrounding borehole. Accordingly, the sensors disclosed in that application will naturally pick up acoustics such as seismic signals present in the surrounding earth strata, reducing their ability to measure casing strains without interference.
Thus, there is a need for a monitoring system for detecting well casing strain that allows for detection of strain from any orientation or mode before excess casing deformation occurs, that allows for distributed strain sensing capability over very long lengths of a well casing, and that does not suffer from the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art. There is also a need for protecting such sensors. The present disclosure provides such a method and apparatus.